Why You’re Wrecked at the End of the Day (And What to Do About It)

Andy
That was me at one stage when I was running our business at Dr. Drip and I thought the answer was more sleep or maybe I needed a holiday, but what I didn’t realize was, I was spending my entire day making tiny pointless decisions over and over again. 

Ange
What we’re talking about is decision fatigue. It’s a real thing and it’s probably what’s draining you more than the work itself. 

Andy
And the fix is not working harder. It’s building routines and systems in your life and business that take away all that unnecessary thinking. 

Ange
In this episode, we’re unpacking how high performers from Olympic athletes to trade business owners, use systems to free up their headspace, save time, and actually get their spark back. 

Andy
And I’ve got a bit of fun lined up for you too. So let’s get into it.

You are listening to The Tradie Show. This is the podcast for trade business and contracting bosses like you who wanna lead with confidence, make more profit, and create a better lifestyle.

Ange
We’re your hosts, Andy and Angela Smith, husband & wife team and co-founders of Lifestyle Tradie. Are you ready to have some fun? 

Andy
Hell yeah!

Can we be real for a sec? If you are working your ass off, but the money’s not there. If the pressure’s building and you are wondering, is this even worth it? Then you need to be at Stress-Free Tradie. 

Ange
It’s our one day live event where we show you how to get your trade business under control without working more hours or burning out.

Andy
It’s the stuff we wish someone told us years ago. Real strategies, real stories, and real change. 

Ange
Come for the tactics and stay for the community. You are not alone in this.  

Andy
Grab your ticket at lifestyletradie.com.au/events. Let’s sort this out together.

All right, it’s time to kick things off with some hell yeah wins from our amazing Lifestyle Tradie members. Hell yeah! These are the legends who’ve been smashing it in their business, proving that small changes can lead to massive results. And hopefully these give you some inspo on what you can do also in your business. Ange, what do we have this week? 

Ange
We’ve got some great hell yes to share today, Andy. First up, a big shout out to Dion who runs a window company in South Australia who says, I bought myself a trippy this week. The hell yeah was that There was no guessing if I could afford it or not. Andy’s voice was in my head going, know your numbers. So that’s exactly what I did. I knew my numbers and I made a decision. Last year, I would be guessing and stressing whether I could afford it or not. 

Andy
Hell yeah, mate, that is amazing. I’ve always dreamed of owning a troopie too. It’s so good that you know your numbers to a stage now that you know what you can afford and what you can’t afford. Well done. What’s next, Ange? 

Ange
Absolutely. Alrighty. Next up is Ashley, who’s a plumber in WA, and he says, the biggest month ever for us this month and started the beauty of a job on this ship. $53,000 re-pipe. Something different for the boys. 

Andy
Yeah, mate. That is a big hell. Yeah. I know you’ve got a team of about eight or nine currently, but actually doing re-piping in a ship, that is definitely something different. Well done for taking that on. I’ve heard the boys are absolutely loving it. That is a big hell yeah. What else have you got? Ange? 

Ange
Alrighty. Matt who runs a plumbing business in Brisbane and he shared back up to a five star rating on Google after tipping over 305 star reviews.

Andy
Hey Matty, that is a hell yeah, for sure. It’s great having over 300 reviews that are five stars. You are absolutely winning at the moment, mate, and loving it. 

Ange
And one last hell yeah from Matt who runs an electrical company in South Australia and he wrote, First million dollar month of work secured. 

Andy
Yeah, that is, that’s amazing. That is absolutely huge, isn’t it? He’s booked in a million dollars worth of work in that month. So well done buddy. You are absolutely flying and that’s what we’re all about here, helping tradies like you take control, make changes, and see the wind rolling right through the door. Alright, so let’s get into this. You know that feeling. You didn’t have a massive day physically, but by the time you get home, you are absolutely cooked. You’re short with your partner, you’re snappy at the kids. You can’t even think about what’s for dinner. You literally got nothing left in the tank. 

Ange
Running a business is hard work, but what most tradies don’t realize is, it’s not just the physical side of things that’s draining you. It’s the mental load that’s wearing you down day after day.

Andy
And this was a game changer for me when I realized it. My brain was constantly switching between quoting, answering calls, checking on the team, putting out fires, and buying a quick lunch because I felt sick. I was so hungry, replying to emails and having to remember to grab the milk on the way home. Then I’d crash on the couch wondering why I felt so bloody wrecked. I thought I needed more time in the day, but actually I needed to stop making so many decisions for everyone in the business and myself. 

Ange
You know what? This is what psychologists call decision fatigue. It’s a real thing. Your brain only has so much capacity each day for decisions. So whether it’s choosing what job gets done first or even what to eat for lunch, all of it burns through your mental energy. And once that tank runs low, you start feeling foggy, distracted, snappy, and just totally unmotivated. 

Andy
It makes sense, doesn’t it? You have this battery for your physical energy, like you’re literally feeling tired after lunch when you’ve been smashing it out on the tools. But the same goes for your mental energy too. You feel exhausted when you’re making too many decisions. 

Ange
Yeah, look, it’s true. There’s this psychologist, Dr. Roy Baumeister, who ran a study where he’d had the people make decisions all day, and then he gave them some problems to solve. So the people who had to make a bunch of choices beforehand gave up way quicker than the ones who didn’t, and that’s because all their mental energy was gone.

Andy
Yeah. It’s so interesting. Hey. And it’s not just using your mental energy to make big decisions, like writing out a detailed quote for say, 50,000 or 500,000. It’s the small repeat ones, you know, where did I leave my work boots? What’s first on my to-do list? Did I order that part? What did that customer ask me again? I said, I’ll check that for them. Even scrolling through your phone burns up your brain power. 

Ange
It’s death by a thousand cuts. Five minutes lost here, looking for paperwork. 10 minutes explaining the same thing to a new apprentice. Three minutes staring at the computer trying to figure out which job to quote first. It doesn’t seem like much, but it all stacks up. 

Andy
Tradies have one of the highest rates of task switching of any small business owner too. You’re on the tools, One second. You’re on the phone, the next. You’re quoting in the car. Next you’re answering team questions. Then you’re back on the tools. Then you’re dealing with callbacks. That constant brain switching is exhausting. So if you’re feeling like you’re working all the time, but not actually moving forward, you probably don’t need more hours. You need less wasted time. Fewer pointless decisions. And that’s where systems and routines come in. 

Ange
We’ll get into some practical stuff soon, but just to be clear, this isn’t about turning you into a robot. It’s about giving your brain a break. It’s like you have a hundred tabs open on a computer and you’re staring at that little spinning wheel of death.

Andy
No. Well.

Ange
Talk about feeling overloaded. It’s about creating habits and systems so that you don’t have to think about every little thing every single day, because let’s be honest, your job is already demanding.

Andy
Most tradies are wearing 10 million hats, and the last thing you need is your brain doing mental gymnastics over whether to have a meat pie or a salad wrap for lunch. We want you thinking about how to grow the business. We want you to be thinking about how to lead your team and how to live your life, not just treading water, trying to survive the day.

Ange
Mental fatigue is just as real and just as exhausting as physical fatigue. You are not being lazy. You are just carrying way too much up top. Alright, so we’ve talked about decision fatigue and how all those little inefficiencies stack up. Now, let’s flip it. What do high performers do differently?

Andy
Basically, high performers cut through the fluff. They remove the thinking where it’s not needed. They set up systems and routines that free up their brain for the big stuff.

Ange
Exactly. And to show you just how powerful this can be. I’ve got a little quiz for you, Andy. 

Andy
Okay, here we go. You’re gonna set me up to look like a goose. Is that right? 

Ange
Probably. All right. Let’s see how we go.

Andy
Yeah. Yeah.

Ange
I’m going to describe a system or a routine used by a famous personal company, and you’ve got to guess who it is or what business I’m talking about. Are you ready? 

Andy
Okay, let’s go. I’m, I think I’m ready.

Ange
Okay, so quiz question one. This person won 23 Olympic Gold medals. But what made them truly elite wasn’t just speed. It was their turn. They trained their turns at the end of a pool, thousands of times. Not sexy, but it shaved off seconds and helped them win. 

Andy
Okay, I’ve got this. I reckon they’re swimmers. 

Ange
Yep.

Andy
Okay. Am I right?

Ange
Which one?

Andy
All right. 20, 23 medals. Yeah. So like, that’s just unheard of. There’s a guy in America and he was the absolute gun. The, the, the goat. His name is Phelps. I can’t remember his first name though.

Ange
Yes, Michael Phelps.

Andy
Ah, Michael Phelps. Well done.

Ange
Exactly. So he knew that winning happened in what’s called the transitions, not just the lapse. So his coach, Bob Bauman, had him rehearse those turns thousands of times because they knew races are won in the details. So even in training, they focused on the parts that most swimmers overlooked, like the push off and the underwater phase, and that’s what gave him the edge. 

Andy
I love that. And what an inspiration, I guess the tradie takeaway in that scenario is this, what are the transitions in your business that slow you down? You know, think about your handover from a tech to admin, maybe booking in a job after a quote for an example. It’s the small stuff in between jobs, which is often where the time gets lost. 

Ange
Yes. It’s often where tradies don’t watch. Right. This is what costs us so much money. All right, so quiz question two. I’m looking for the name of a business. Are you ready? Mm-hmm. Okay. Teenagers can run this business. They make burgers exactly the same in Dubbo as they do in Darwin. Okay. It’s all because of the systems in place. Exact steps, exact timing. No guesswork. Who is it? 

Andy
Well, I think that’s a bit of an easy one. That’s a Mac D’s.

Ange
Mac D’s. 

Andy
McDonald’s.

Ange
That’s it. So guess what? It’s actually not about the food. This is one of the most systemized businesses in the world. So for you’re running a trade business, what jobs in your business could be done consistently without you if you had a clear system? I’m talking about checklists, follow up calls, or even how the team parks the van.

Andy
Okay. I think you should give me another one. Oh, I’m on a roll baby. Let’s go.

Ange
Alright, I do have another one.

Andy
Okay, great.

Ange
Quiz question three.

Andy
Quick question. How many hours did you work last week and now how much profit did you actually make? If those two numbers don’t line up, we need to talk. Our one day live event, Stress-Free Tradie is designed for tradies who are working their guts out, but still can’t figure out where the money’s going. We’ll show you what the top 5% of trade business owners are doing differently and how to fix the leaks that are draining your time and profit. We kick off September 2nd. It’s free and it’ll change the way you run your business. Hit the link in the show notes and grab a seat before they go. 

Ange
So this Aussie business built an empire out of lawn mowing. Every franchise is taught the same pattern for how to mow a lawn to save time and avoid missed spots. Who is it?

Andy
Ah, yes. That’s a good old Jim Penman from Jim’s Mowing.

Ange
Nice.

Andy
Yeah. He talked about his system and the small constant improvements he made over the years when he was on The Tradie show, not that long ago.

Ange
Yeah, that’s right.

Andy
But I’ll pop that episode link in the show notes because I think that’d be really good for every listener to listen to that episode. It was definitely a good one. 

Ange
Yes, agreed. I love how he created systems as basic as how to mow. Yeah. So I guess the sentence now is in your trade business, whether you’re a plumber, electrician, you’re a landscape, a roofer or builder to name a few, think about what’s your lawn mowing pattern? 

Andy
Yeah, that’s a great question. I mean, does your team know the exact way to clean up a site at the end of the job? How do they finish off on a site? Do they have a checklist? Um, how do they do their quotes? How do they order the materials? Or are they just winging it and doing it their way every single time and causing some challenges?

Ange
Yeah, good question. So I’ve got another one. Andy, quiz question four. Are you ready? 

Andy
Yes. Well, I think so.

Ange
All right, so this one should hit close to home. This tech CEO wears the same gray t-shirt and jeans nearly every day, not because he’s lazy. Because he wants to reduce how many decisions he makes each morning.

Andy
Oh, I’d have to say I’m a bit of an expert at this at the moment. Hey, I was worried. I was worried, but I’m all over it. But that’s Mark Zuckerberg, isn’t it? 

Ange
Yep. Exactly. This is the Facebook founder who reckons choosing what he wears is just one more decision he doesn’t need to make. So he automates it. He keeps the mental energy for bigger things. 

Andy
I know this very well because I’ve done something very similar and, um.

Ange
Not even something you have.

Andy
I have, yeah. Yeah. And I think people have cottoned on, I wear black a lot, um, and I wear a V-neck, black T-shirt and, and I normally have around 50 of them and sometimes get up to 70 or 80. And then I do a bit of a cull, but um, it’s something that I wear every single day. I wear it when I talk on stage, I actually always wear it, don’t I?

Ange
Yeah, all the time.

Andy
Because you know what? It’s just one less thing to think about, and honestly, I just find it so much easier. 

Ange
So I guess the question for all of you is to think about how you can simplify your day. So whether it’s you wearing black Peanut t-shirts every day.

Andy
It’s a good look, fellas. It’s a good look.

Ange
Maybe what you eat or even how you start your morning. 

Andy
Yeah. Fewer decisions equals more clarity for the stuff that really matters. 

Ange
Okay. Last one. Got another quiz. Are you ready? 

Andy
Okay. 

Ange
So this also is a business. This business exploded because they take away the need to plan, shop, or even think about what’s for dinner. You just follow the steps and bam. Dinner is sorted. Who is it? 

Andy
Okay. I know sort of, I, I, we’ve had it at our house before. It’s a box that comes to the front door, but I’ve never done too much with it after that. Oh. I’ve picked it up and put it on the kitchen bench.

Ange
You’re so good.

Andy
But I haven’t done too much, but it’s something like fresh. 

Ange
Yeah. Hello Fresh. Oh, exactly.

Andy
There you go. Hello Fresh.

Ange
Like a meal kit. Right? You got it. Mm-hmm. Companies like HelloFresh took the pain out of planning and created a plug and play solution. How good’s that? 

Andy
Yeah, they’re making a Mozart because we’re all cooked at the end of the day. Pun intended. 

Ange
That was a good one. So think about what you can turn into plug and play. Is it your quoting system? Maybe it’s your job setup checklist, or maybe it’s even your end of day Packdown. 

Andy
This is bloody good. And it shows how even the world’s best performers, whether they’re in sport, Tech or flipping burgers, lean on systems so they can perform and not waste time. 

Ange
Exactly. They don’t leave things to chance. They remove the friction and you can do the same thing in your trade business, even in your personal life. The goal here isn’t perfection, it’s consistency. 

Andy
So now that we’ve seen how high performers use systems to reduce thinking and fix inefficiencies, let’s make this real for you. As a trade business owner, what can you systemize right now to save time and brain power? And we’re not talking about building some 50 page manual or turning your business into a military operation. This is just about simple routines that remove friction and give you back control. 

Ange
Let’s split this up. Let’s first look at life, then we will get into the business stuff. 

Andy
Okay. Good idea. 

Ange
Alright, so first up, think about your morning routine. Same wake up time, same sequence. Maybe avoid the morning scramble.

Andy
Yeah. And we often talk about the importance of clearing your head before your normal day starts. You know what that is for you? 

Ange
Yeah, exactly. Like me. Maybe get your work clothes sorted the night before. Like literally lay them out or hang them somewhere else. Oh, just wear the same thing each day like Andy does.

Andy
Well, most tradies are wearing the same uniform anyway. Make sure it’s looking professional, clean, and tidy. So most of you have that pretty much sorted. 

Ange
Yeah. Fair sentence. What about your meal routine? Maybe rotate 10 dinners on repeat until the kids start complaining and maybe pre-order your groceries weekly for like click and collect, and that way it’s done and dusted.

Andy
Another one we love as a family is calendar blocking and preloading a year. In quarter four, we start scheduling in holiday time, family time, reoccurring events, and exercise our appointments. All set up for the following year. We have everything in there so we know exactly what needs to be done and then we can build around these important blocks.

Ange
Yeah, absolutely. You’d be amazed at how much headspace you get back when you don’t have to constantly think.

Andy
Now, in terms of your business systems, start with things like quoting templates, ’cause you’ve gotta stop writing every quote from scratch, every single time, you need to use a baseline and tweak it from there.

Ange
Yeah, absolutely. And another one is your flow of a job from your lead to your final payment. Have every step mapped out so that you and your team can follow the same process on each job. For example, a simple step for us was signing on glass by a customer on completion of every job so that they confirm that the job was completed and left clean and tidy. It’s simple and it’s effective and it layers in this subconscious thought from the customer that they liked what we did.

Andy
Another one would be helping us have a new staff onboarding checklist so you’re not explaining the same things over and over. There was also your toolbox talk system. You know, having your toolbox meeting at the same time every week is super important. Have a checklist of what you’re gonna go over week on week, so you’re not repeating yourself and you are organized. 

Ange
Yeah, not wasting time. Right. What about an end of day packdown? Maybe it’s this 10 minute routine about cleaning the vans, or what notes get updated and how the tools get stacked in the vehicle. 

Andy
And that is super important because there’s a lot of stuff that goes missing with most tradies out on the field. At the end of the day, they’re in a rush and they leave the job site or where they were way too quick without putting in the right data and now it’s gone forever.

Ange
Or putting tools on the roof and driving away. 

Andy
Yeah, that’s an interesting one. We had a zip mini boiler left on the roof once, didn’t we? Ange?

Ange
Yes.

Andy
So that guy, and he’s still out there. We know him well. His name is Zippy. That was his nickname. After that, he trashed it. But one of the best things we ever did at Dr. Drip was systemizing the handover between the tradie out in the field and the office. It used to be full of errors, delays, and, oh, I forgot to tell you kind of stuff. So we created a checklist and the team learned quickly the exact step to what was expected before they left the site. 

Ange
Systems create freedom. They remove double handling, confusion, and brain drain. So to get started, pick one area that’s driving you nuts and systemize it, like literally nail that. Then move on to the next.

Andy
We’ve actually put together a systems ebook that’s full of simple examples and real life tools that our members use to take back control of their trade businesses. It’s free and it’ll help you find the biggest time wasters in your week and what to do about them. Grab the link in the show notes or head to our website and click the Free Resources section.

Okay. It’s Tradie dilemma time and it is brought to you by Buy4Tradies, the buying group, helping tradies just like you save some serious coin on materials, fuel, vehicles, tools, and other services. If you’re not using it, you are probably paying too much, and this is our Q and A segment where you let us know what you’re having trouble with in your business and we’ll give you our best advice to sort it out. 

Ange
Okay, so today we have a question from Luke who runs an electrical business on the New South Wales South Coast, and he writes, we’ve had a couple of customers lately ask for discounts or tell us they’ve found someone cheaper. I don’t wanna lose the job, but I also don’t want to race to the bottom. How do I handle price pushback without sounding defensive or desperate? 

Andy
Oh, that is a really good question.

Ange
It’s a great question.

Andy
But what I’ve always found with Dr. Drip, and I think most people listening would know this, we were definitely not the cheapest. It was the way that we set our job up from the very start. It was from the moment the customer talked to us on the telephone, it was the way the boys turned up on site. It was the way the boys went through the job. It was the way the boys asked for the sale, and it was the way the guys didn’t really give the customer a chance to go and check out these other jobs. It was like, we’re here to do it. Let’s get started. And we were charging a $55 call out fee to go out on site. And if they didn’t go ahead with the job, we’d charge them for that. So we got rid of a lot of those customers that were just price shopping. Now, let’s face it, you are always gonna find Billy Bum crack down the roads gonna be able to do it cheaper. You’ll always find cheaper. I would like to say to you, don’t drop your prices to keep them happy because you’re just affecting your profitability and you don’t wanna be doing that in business, but find out a way of how you can be better and how you can focus on the better A and B clients and not deal with these C and D clients that just are pushing back on price and being absolutely painful.

Ange
Yeah, I couldn’t have said it better myself. We definitely need to start it from the beginning when this phone call happens. I hope that’s actually helped you, Luke. Thanks for writing in and sharing your dilemma. Remember, if you have a question or dilemma in your business, reach out to us and let us know what we can help you with.

Andy
Subscribe to The Tradie Show, wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Rate and write us a review or for more information about Lifestyle Tradie, head to lifestyletradie.com.au.